X-Files: Christ & the Supernatural
“The End of Hell”
Sermon by Noel K. Anderson First Presbyterian Church of Upland August 7, 2022
So, following last week’s discussion of Near Death Experiences and what Christians might expect after biological death, it is only right that we turn our attention to the subject of Hell. As with most mysteries of Scripture, there is spectrum of views and interpretations going back to first century. There is even more complication created by elaborations—common knowledge and mythology—which must be sifted out from the revelation of Scripture. So we’re going to look at Hell from the popular notions, the biblical witness, leading us to the hope and triumph over death and Hell proclaimed by the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Revelation 20: 11-15
11 Then I saw a great white throne and the one who sat on it; the earth and the heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Also another book was opened, the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works, as recorded in the books. 13 And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and all were judged according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire; 15 and anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire. †
1. Popular Hell
As with anything mysterious, the world has elaborated on the idea of Hell with great flourish and imagination. It has been a source of fascination for centuries, fueling the arts and enticing every culture in the world.
From as far back as 2100 BC, we have Egyptian coffins inscribed with stories and pictures of the Egyptian afterlife. They speak of rivers of fire, lakes of fire, and fiery demons presiding over places of torment for the wicked in the afterlife.
In the Oriental world, Hell is called Naraka, a place of torment for the wicked in the afterlife, common to Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, and more. Muslims in Indonesia and Malaysia use the word Naraka today to speak of Hell.
In the Christian West, everyone is familiar with Hell. It is part of our common knowledge and vocabulary. It is part of American entertainment. We refer to it in everything from cartoons (as we saw) to popular horror movies.
Our English word “Hell” comes from a common, Germanic word meaning underworld, cover, or conceal. In short, the underworld or place where souls go at death. But our ideas about Hell are more than the underworld—we think of the lake of Fire—a place of eternal torment for all who refuse God’s grace, right? All our ideas about Hell must stand beneath Scripture. What Scripture says and reveals always determines our best understanding.
But even here’s a problem because, through the centuries, we Christians—like everybody else—have built up and elaborated ideas about Hell that are not scriptural. We need to reform our view of Hell to align and adhere to what Scripture says, and scrape off the barnacles that have accrued over the years.
What barnacles? There are many. For instance, have you heard anyone say that Jesus talked about Hell more than Heaven? We can honestly quote Rick Warren, John MacArthur, Jerry Falwell, John Piper, Mark Driscoll, Robert Jeffries—and these are just the guys in our lifetime—all claim it. But they are wrong—completely wrong. In the gospels, there are roughly 1,944 passages that include Jesus’ own words. Only 60 of the verses—about 3%—could count. But there are 192 verses—about 10%—referring to Heaven, everlasting life, and his future kingdom. These teachers are wrong more than three times over, which is why I’m talking about them here in part about popular Hell rather than biblical Hell, which we come to next.
2. BIBLICAL HELL
When we talk about biblical “Hell” we look to our source for authoritative information. Here is our meat course. When we talk about Hell, we are looking for something that matches our idea of the place of eternal torment for sin and separation from God—like that lake of fire full of angry bulldogs. There is a word for belief in eternal torment: infernalism. Infernalism holds to the idea that because God is infinitely good and holy, our offenses and sin constitute eternal offenses that can only be justified by eternal punishment.
I refer you to our text from Revelation, verse 15:
and anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.
That Lake of Fire appears five times in Revelation. That is what most of us think of when we think of Hell. But, it is not Hell—it is the Lake of Fire. But wait—isn’t that what we think of when we think of Hell?—an infernalist, everlasting torment in the Lake of Fire? Perhaps. But it is never called Hell. Hell is something else.
The basically uses three words that we associate with Hell: Sheol, Hades, and Gehenna—let’s briefly consider all three.
First of all, there is no Hell in the Old Testament. We do read about Sheol and the Pit, which kind of sound like Hell, and some English translators have interpreted as Hell. Psalm 130:
1 I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up, and did not let my foes rejoice over me. 2 O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. 3 O Lord, you brought up my soul from Sheol, restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit.
Sheol can mean the depths of the sea or deep beneath the surface of the Earth. Both Sheol and the Pit refer the underworld. Remember, the ancients had a flat Earth cosmos—Heaven and life were “up,” death and the underworld were “down.” The main meaning of both Sheol and the Pit is death and the grave, not a place of eternal torment—the Hell we commonly think of. Sheol refers to Hades, not Hell. Which brings us to Hades.
Do we think of Hades as the same thing as Hell? Hades is Hell, right? Hell is Hades? Are they interchangeable? Not so much, according to Scripture. Hades, literally, is the mythological god of the dead and king of the underworld. His three-headed dog Cerberus guards the gates of Hades. Question: Why does Hades need guarding? Are there a lot of souls trying to get in? It’s strange, but then again, plenty of junkyards need watchdogs to keep people out.
But here’s the thing: Hades is the Greek word used to translate Sheol from Hebrew. Hades is Greek for Sheol. In the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament [c. 200 BC], the word Sheol is always translated Hades. Its main meaning is death and the grave, so like Sheol, Hades does not mean Hell. There is one instance when it sounds a bit like Hell. In the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man from Luke 16:23:
In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side.
In 2nd Temple Judaism, the underworld, Sheol or Hades, was understood to be divided. When people die and their bodies are buried underground, their souls reside somewhere in the valleys of the underworld. But nice people, Righteous people like Grandma and Grandpa don’t await=the general resurrection in the same place as wicked, rotten people. One of the nice valleys was reputedly called “The bosom of Abraham.” Lazarus was there. The Rich Man was across a chasm and in torment. This was an other part of Hades—the bad side of Hades. This assumption is part of the backdrop before which Jesus illustrates his parable about God’s justice. Jesus is not giving us a description of the afterlife. And this verse is unlike any other reference to Hades. So we conclude: Hades is not Hell; it is—like Sheol—just the underworld, the grave, the place of the dead, not the eternally tormented. So what about Gehenna?
Gehenna is the word Jesus uses for Hell. Whenever the word Gehenna appears in the text, the English is translated to the word Hell. Finally, we’re getting somewhere.
An example can be found in Mark 9: 43
43 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to Gehenna, to the unquenchable fire.
So here, now, we seem to have located Hell in the Bible. It wasn’t Sheol, the Pit, or Hades, but Gehenna seems to fit our idea of Hell much better.
Except that Gehenna was a place—a literal place—well known to Israel. Gehenna means “The Valley of Hinnom.” This valley of Hinnom had a long reputation as an awful place—a deeply sinful and cursed history. We read in 2 Kings 23:10:
And he defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, that no one might burn his son or his daughter as an offering to Molech.
The story is that some very wicked Jewish idol worshipers had gone so far as to sacrifice children to the Moloch, and did so in Gehenna—the valley of Hinnom. Ever since, Gehenna—the valley just south of the city walls of Jerusalem—served as the city dump. Everyone’s trash was dumped there and continuously burned. Gehenna, the city dump, is the destination for all things worthless and abominable. It is where our sin and love of sin belong.
I have been to Gehenna a couple of times. Today, it is a beautiful park. That is, the literal Gehenna. So what are we to think: has Hell been made over? Has it been defeated or is there still an eternal torment awaiting those who refuse God’s grace? How can we have hope looking through the gates of Hades and the sign above it which reads, according to Dante’s Inferno, “Abandon Hope, All Ye Who Enter Here”?
HOPE OVER HELL
How do we live with hope when the reality of Hell hangs over our heads?
First of all, let’s be honest: talking about Hell can be very manipulative. One of the ugliest aspects of our evangelicalism is that we’ve built Hell up in order to frighten people into submission and compliance. This has happened since the early church. WE hold the keys to Heaven and Hell. If you don’t do precisely as we say, well, who can be so sure about your salvation?
I’ve heard evangelists go on and on about Hell, chiefly as a way of securing an impulsive conversion out of gullible listeners. Many of these proclaim a Hell not found anywhere in Scripture, but in Milton, Dante, and scripture-like books that were never accepted by either Jews or Christians. Yet, there is hope.
Have you heard of The Harrowing of Hell? This refers to the idea that Jesus, upon dying on the cross, descended into Hell to clean the place up. From 1 Peter 3: 18-19:
18 For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison.
In the Apostles’ Creed, when we say “He descended into Hell,” do we mean he went there to fix things or he went there because he had all our sins on his shoulders and they took him there? Everyone differs on that—Calvin said the descent was an expression of the depth of his suffering—the great cost of human sin. Martin Luther said that Jesus stormed the gates of Hell, turned on the lights, put out the fire, and wrapped up all the devils in chains such that Hell was transformed and will no longer be a problem.
But the Apostles’ Creed doesn’t say “Hell” in its original language. It doesn’t say Gehenna, Hades, or Sheol—it says he descended down below, interpretations open.
Another view is Annihilationism. Annihilationism means 2nd death. In other words, no eternal torment, but just oblivion and non-being for the unsaved. Our text from verse 14:
Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire;
Isn’t this wonderful? Death and Hades destroyed forever. The Lake of Fire puts death to death, and puts eternal torment to an end.
Finally, I should mention Universalism, which holds that Jesus died for all flesh, and in the end of things everyone will be saved. There is no Hell, but when we die we all go to Heaven and are received by a loving God who does not punish sin or seek vengeance. Universalism is growing in popularity, and why wouldn’t it? No piper to pay, no consequence for sin, no worries about offending God’s glory. Everything turns out nicely for everyone, no exceptions.
Universalism is nice, but to hold it you have to ignore a lot of Scripture, which we are not willing to do.
Aside from the underworld of Sheol and Hades, Gehenna remains and it is impossible for us to imagine divine justice without some manner of passing through fire. Do we not desire that we should be refined by the Refiner’s Fire? Who among us doesn’t want the sinfulness burned off, removed, and sent to the junk heap called Gehenna? Removing all within us that is vile and ungodly seems to be something the faithful long for the way we crave a good shower or bath after a heavy day’s work.
For those who are in Christ, there is no fear of eternal torment. For those who belong to Christ, Hell is a very small place—with not-so-hot fires—like a small sink to wash our hands. But for those who deny Christ and refuse his free gift of salvation, I think that sink can be a hot sea—a vast, inescapable ocean of flame.
As we come to the table today, let us do so in repentance and gratitude. Let us be eager to trash our sins, wash our hands in the fires, and place our entire trust and gratitude in the Alpha and Omega—our Lord Jesus—who alone quenches the unquenchable fire. †
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Some Questions
- What is the difference between Hades and Hell?
- What is Sheol? Is it closer to Hades or Hell?
- What is “The Pit”?
- What is Gehenna—literally and figuratively?
- What is “infernalism”?
- What is “annihilationism”?
- What is “universalism”?
- What is the Christian hope regarding Hell?
- What is “the Harrowing of Hell”?